TITLE:
Managing Shipping Companies, the Way Their Pioneers Did: The Case-Studies of Aristotelis S. Onassis II and Angeliki Frangou
AUTHORS:
Alexandros M. Goulielmos
KEYWORDS:
A Case-Study Related to Aristotelis S. Onassis, also to Angeliki Frangou, Lib-erty Ships, Onassis’ Animal Spirits
JOURNAL NAME:
Modern Economy,
Vol.12 No.1,
January
29,
2021
ABSTRACT: This work finalized the presentation of the business
life of the late (golden) Greek shipowner Aristotelis S. Onassis, which we
started in a previous paper (in this journal1). Our purpose was to provide
a real example, in which prospective managers may find-out certain strong
points. Onassis believed in his arithmetic as far as shipping economies of
scale are concerned and in the future of oil consumption, since 1938. The
largest tanker in the water was always his, a fixed target. He was also after a
rapid growth of his fleet, using other people’s money. He was building almost 3 ships each year on average
for about 4 continuous decades! The top Chian shipowner Mrs. Angeliki N. Frangou, reached a fleet
of over 18 m dwt-3 times larger than that of Onassis! She is strong knowing capital markets,
as she used to work in Wall Street, and she has the ability to derive the funds
she needs at low
interest rates. She (a mechanical Engineer by education) understands also the
“cost minimization” principle. She was round during the end-2008 global
financial crisis, when she
learned that a hundred of opportunities crop-up during such a time, provided
one has funds. Unlike Onassis, she was on board her father ships since a little girl, and
surely tradition, (and
her conservative father), taught her the old shipping wisdom…while the modern one,
she learned by herself. The method used was to read a great number of books,
articles, announcements and interviews, many more than those mentioned in the reference
list. To note-down the business style of each shipowner, dropping-out all
irrelevant facts and private life. For Onassis, we read more than 10 books. Our
scientific curiosity and our experience as a professor of shipping management
enabled us to single out the management ways and the principles applied by
these two managers. The end purpose was to teach readers of how shipping
business can be carried-out with success given the changes occurred.